Thar Shaddin

This is a survival scenario AR, open to anybody at all. One twist: Every character to join must be either a lunatic version of themselves, or must be extremely weak in an area in which they are usually very strong. Post lunatic (your name) or weak (your name) in blue at the top of your post. And please, if your character is already nuts, don't pick the lunatic option just to avoid being weak.

Each person can also bring to the thread a single, challenging element, such as a "bad guy" NPC or an environmental obstacle. Please state the challenging element you bring in at the top of your first post. I myself, in the interests of impartial fairness, and just to challenge myself, really, will play the part of all of these challenging elements, unless otherwise requested.

The idea is to see how much or how little our weakened/bonkers characters have to rely on each other/help each other/stab each other in the back in order to survive and escape the maze. The lyceum itself is of properties as yet unknown, except that it is huge and confusing.

Challenging Element: Sellswords - http://www.tharshaddin.com/rp/viewtopic.php?f=22&t=1684

Delphindes Blunt stalked the length of the room, eyes peeled and mind calm. He was sent here to hunt seekers of the forbidden knowledge locked within the basement levels of the Lyceum. His superiors had become aware of movements through the secret doors of this place some time ago, and had been observing to see if a pattern emerged. So far, none had. It was difficult to tell if the intruders were a single group, a rebellious cause of sorts, or if they were lone foragers of the dangerous truths that filled these halls. Or if, perhaps, they were here for different reasons entirely. Either way, waiting and watching proved to be of no use. As of yet, none of them had been identified. The task laid out for Delphindes and his comrades was to find these intruders and capture them. If capture proved impossible, death was preferable to escape.

So it was that, moments previous, the three mercenaries had been ushered through a twisted portal, and an ancient lever had been pulled from the outside, activating a vast web of revolving hallways, gruesome deathtraps, and magical trickeries, effectively turning the basement levels into a deadly labyrinth. The sellswords were given some guidelines for avoiding traps and keeping their internal compasses in line, but little else. Delphindes was to rap his knuckles thrice upon a little stone he had been given once he had tracked down all of the renegades, and the lever would be put back in place. Bloody weird, those battle mages and their toys, he thought to himself.

They moved north from their point of entry. The room was dark, lighted only by a flickering absence of shadows in the Northeast corner, jutting into the room from a narrow threshold. It appeared to be the only exit in the room, besides the portal that they had just crossed. Blunt reached the opening first, listening carefully, and barely breathing. He pressed against the wall, and motioned for Lucky to peer around the corner from the Northwest corner of the room. Lucky craned his neck, stooping low, and then nodded back.

They all three proceeded into the next room. This room was lined at head level with torchlights, which were surely driven by magic. No servants ever maintained these sub-levels. Blunt had a rare moment, one in which he was grateful for a little magic. The room was a long, cavernous hall which creaked and groaned, tickled by wind from an unknown source. Were it not for the revealing evidence of the eyes, he surely would have been seeing specters here. Even the upper levels of the Lyceum had always given him the creeps. The restricted section was proving itself to be downright frightening...

((One question before I post, I would love to try my hand at this- do our lunatic version recognize they are insane or are we playing them as if they've been insane all their life?))

((totally your call!))

Looney Lo'en "Gir" Jaspenellar

"WAAAAAHOOOOOO!!!! WHEEEEEEHAAAWWWWW!!!!" Screeches which sounded as if the owner of the voice was very excited and happy echoed down the hall. There was so much volume, it was difficult to tell exactly where they were coming from. If one were to actually look into the tiny room which was the source of the reverberating noise, one would find a peculiar scene- a half-elven woman with ragged brown hair and a stupid grin, dressed in a very odd looking, full-bodied costume. The costume was dark green, with black arms and black legs which ended in mittens and footpads, respectively. Its hood was thrown back, in a misshapen, unrecognizable form. She was running on all fours around the perimeter of the small, high-ceilinged room.

(( Zou, this is an awesome idea. Keep up the good work. I'd join, but the navy said I couldn't.))

All three, despite their training, jumped at the noise that filled their heads. What madness was this? Blunt waved the two against the walls, motioning with a quick hand signal that they should comb the perimeter of the room. Blunt himself kept close to the table in the center and crept forward.

Soon enough, he had good occasion to call the others off their search. In the center of the room, under the perfect center of the table, there was a trap door. Putting his ear to the floor next to it, he thought he could sense the shouting getting louder. The sellswords gathered round it, tense and absorbed in focus. Daggie retrieved a polearm from the wall, and jabbed the trapdoor tentatively. Nothing happened.

"Right, men. Let's see what this is all about. Our first man may be right under us." Blunt tore open the trap door, and the other two had their swords pointed downward quick as a flash. Darkness. Only the sound was louder and more apparent, now filling their ears to crushing volumes. The stygian shaft below them was smooth-walled, with an obsidian sheen, fading deep, and echoing beyond vision, ever downward.

Blunt breathed a huff of trepidation, and slowly put his left hand out. "Rope."

Lunatic Derin Edala

Derin closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She was beginning to think, insofar as she was still capable of that, that coming here had been a bad idea. Her eyes had to be playing tricks on her, because the monkeys had left. Wait, no... it was if they were here that she was seeing things. Wasn't it?

Well, she was hopelessly lost now, and even if she had remembered the way out the monkeys were probably setting up an ambush behind her. There was nothing to do but press forward.

TGhe piercing, shrieking sound told her that the monkeys were indeed still present, although apparently they were being tortured. She couldn't guess its direction.

Soon, though, she found a room where some men were gathered around a trapdoor, and she was sure, sure that the sound was louder here. Unless the catacombs were trying to trick her. Should she warn them? Perhaps they were enemies in disguise?

Derin leaned against the doorway and watched them work. Whatever was in the hole, she'd be better off if she could learn about it by watching it kill the men first.